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Thursday, 31 May 2012

If I had lots of money I'd be an art collector. I have very little money but I'm rich in creative friends.
Alex Copley who is the amazing artist of the above charcoal drawing and I have worked together for a few years. I didn't know she had started sketching until we got chatting last Saturday about craft ideas for my next batch of amigurumi and she offered to show me her sketch book. I was really impressed by her talent, her personal style and slightly dark themes. Quite a few of her sketches really appealed to me. The above charcoal of a girl at a gravestone surrounded by loving ghosts was one of the fist charcoal works Alex has done. I loved it and was beyond chuffed when Alex said I could have it (for a small fee). I feel honored to own Alex's first sold piece of art and I'm really hoping her confidence in her ability continues growing and she gets more pieces finished and available for sale cause I want another while I can still afford her work :)

Regular reader of this blog will know that I work at Duttons for buttons a well known button specialist haberdashery and craft shop. It is a wonderful place to work although for a crafter like me there is a bit too much temptation to go shopping while your at work :)

Many customers come in with projects they are working on for help and inspiration. This is great, I get to see all the lovely crafts people are working on and its gets my creative juices flowing to think up ideas to help them out

. One of the big things people are making at the moment is bunting. Bunting is easy to make and it looks so pretty, I'm really glad its made a bit of a come back. I've really enjoyed seeing all the different types of bunting people are making but other than a little crafting twinge I've never really got the urge to make some for myself. That was until yesterday when a lady came into the shop with some beautiful stitched and padded patchwork bunting she was making for a friends new baby. I told her straight away how much I loved it and did she mind if I nicked her idea, she didn't, she was chuffed, lovely :)

My younger sister has just had a little boy named Lucas so I thought I'd use this Idea to make some bunting for his nursery. After work I nipped to the market and picked up a couple of fat quarters to top up the fabric I have at home that I wanted to used and after an afternoon of stitching and gluing here's what I made.

I've used a set of cardboard letters that are normally used for scrap booking to draw around to get the hearts and letters then hand stitched them onto fabric squares with a contracting cotton.

This natural tape I've used as the tabs and hanging tape is one from work that I've been coverting for quite a while. The 2 meters that was left on the card was just enough to make this bunting.

I couldn't resist adding buttons as they look cute and finish it off nicely.

Hope my sister and little Lucas like it :)

Wouldn't you know it I've now got the bunting bug and I just know I'm gonna have to make more right away.

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

I've just figured out how to do a discount code on my etsy shop so I thought I'd do 25% off for the bank holiday. So from now till next Wednesday you can get 25% off anything in my esty shop just enter the code BARMY1 at the checkout :)

Monday, 21 May 2012

Its been a busy week here at amigurumi barmy land. The kittens are getting huge and they are everywhere. I can't go anywhere or do anything without a kitten being there attempting to climb my leg, eat my knitting needles or crochet hooks, going mental with balls of wool and generally being too cute.

These three little ones all now have wonderful forever homes they are nearly fully weaned and will be ready to leave mum soon. I still have Sansa left to find a home for but as I've thought she would be she's been a bit tricky, she won't eat kitten food and is clinging to mum, so I'm putting off finding her a home till she's a bit further along.

Cal doesn't seem to mind Sansa being a bit clingy still, if fact I think she quite likes it :)

On the crafting side I've been having a bit of a play with fimo. Its been ages since I've used fimo and so its been great fun havind a play with it again.

my mum loves the advert for EDF energy with the little wobbling blob

She really wanted a blob of her own, so out came the fimo and here he is.

Since making mum one I've had loads of people asking me to make one for them so I've put a few in my etsy shop. I don't know what the copyright deal is on these so any profit I make I'm gonna donate to Kidney patients association .

While I had the fimo out I couldn't help but play and can up with these lovely little Bunny's.

I really like the idea of making a fimo prototype for amigurumi i'm gonna make and I think these bunny would work great as amigurumis, time to get the crochet hooks and have a go if I can wrestle the wool off the kittens that is :)

I'm linking in with handmade Monday again. have a look over here at all the other great craft blogs.

It has been an age since I picked up my crochet hooks and made something I'm happy with. I've been dabbling with some new ideas but nothing has been turning out like I hoped. I wanted to get more shape into my amigurumis and have been trying out ways to make legs and arms with joints in without sewing or using toy joints. I wanted the crochet to do the work and I was sure there must be a way of making a natural bend in a leg or arm. Well yesterday I had a bit of a eureka moment and after much trial and error I give you my sparkly unicorn.

Not the best picture but hopefully you can see how I'm managed to get a nice bend in the back legs. He/She (I haven't checked) is made from a Wendy Peter pan yarn called moon dust it has a iridescent thread that runs through it so that the finished unicorn sparkles.

I've embroidered sequin's to the flank and as decoration to the eyes to try in the colours in the mane and just to make it look pretty

The unicorn horn is crocheted from gold fingering, its very fiddly to crochet with but it gives a nice effect. The mane is from a ball of sock yarn I had in my stash its an incredibly soft yarn so it flows nicely.

As I've finished it today I though I'd add him to 1st Unique gifts homemade Monday blog link up which is here

The inspiration for making a unicorn was a strange one but this is the picture my friend posted on pintrest. It just makes me giggle so much that I could resist doing this :)

Friday, 4 May 2012

The kittens are getting bigger every day and now their personality's are starting to show through I've given them temporary names. I've just finished reading the song of ice and fire books so have taken names from there. This is Tyrion, or was Tyrion I should say, he's forever family came to see him last Sunday and they are going to call him Sheldon so I've now started giving him the nickname moonpie (I'm sure any big bang fans out there will get that one). He is a lovely little boy and he's the most laid back of the group he's happy to be cuddled and just flops into a contented lump when you pick him up. He's gonna be big he has the Bengal boy side, his dad was a big cat and he's gonna be fluffy but I think he's gonna be a big softy and I'm very lucky that he's going to live with friends so I'll be able to see how he gets on.

Sansa and Cersei these are the two larger girls. Sansa is very much a pretty little girl, everything she does is dainty. I put ribbons on them last Sunday so I could start to tell them apart and Sansa is the only one who has kept her ribbon on, she knows how cute she looks with it. She is the one who likes to be handled least but I think she will make a perfect lap cat for someone as long as she is centre of attention she'll be happy. I'll be looking for a home for her without other animals or children.
Cersei is Sansas opposite she isn't scared of anything. She was the first of the litter to do everything and loves to play fight. She loves attention, she sits on my shoulder while I read like shes the queen of all she sees. She loves a cuddle and snuzzes into my neck all the time. Wherever this little girl goes to live she will be the boss so I'm sure she will be fine with other animals and children.

Arya is in the middle of this pic and just look at that face she has a perfect Bengal face but no matter what she just always looks a bit sad. She has that ability like puss in boots from shrek to look at you with big sad eyes until you melt and scoop her up for cuddles. I don't mind saying she is my favourite of the litter and I am very tempted to keep her. If I do give her up it will be to someone I know I'm kinda hoping Boo will have her so I'll still be able to see her all the time.

They will be ready to go to there forever homes in 4 weeks so if anyone wants a kitty let me know :)

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Its a bit of a family tradition or ours to go to the Harrogate flower
show. I've been going to it all long as I can remember and I love it. It
nearly always rains and this year we weren't let down, there is such a
joy in seeing ladies dressed up to the nines ankle deep in mud and
clutching brolly's against the rain :) I love the rain and while everyone
made for the cover of the indoor areas I was able to wander around and
see the show gardens without having to elbow my way through the crowds.

This was my favourite of the show gardens. Silver birches, alliums, wisteria and other beautiful planting in purples and whites, makes the perfect garden to relax in.

Ooh I do love alliums, mine are just about to come out in my garden, I'm hoping to have some white ones this year as they were all lilac last year.

I love how modern this garden is and the idea of having a libary in the garden is pure bliss :)

This succulent garden was set into the paving, I think I might have to have a go at something like this.

The sun did come out for a few minutes and it was lovely to listen to the band and have a bit of a boogie.

I when with a long list of things I wanted to buy and was very lucky to get everything I wanted at a very good price although I could have very easily blown the budget at the hosta stands.

It was a great day and I look forward to the Autumn show. Now I just needs a few days of nice weather so I can get everything planted and the garden spruced up.